Suppressed correlative

Short description: Type of argument that tries to redefine a correlative so that one alternative encompasses the other

The fallacy of suppressed correlative is a type of argument that tries to redefine a correlative (one of two mutually exclusive options) so that one alternative encompasses the other, i.e. making one alternative impossible.[1] This has also been known as the fallacy of lost contrast[2] and the fallacy of the suppressed relative.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Description
* 2 Usage
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 4.1 Notes
* 4.2 Works

## Description

A conceptual example:

Person 1: "All things are either X or not X." (The correlatives: X–not X.)
Person 2: "I define X such that all things that you claim are not X are included in X." (The suppressed correlative: not X.)

Alternatively Person 2 can redefine X in way that instead concludes all things are not X.

A simple example based on one by Alexander Bain:[4]

Person 1: "Things are either mysterious or not mysterious. Exactly when an earthquake will strike is still a mystery, but how blood circulates in the body is not."
Person 2: "Everything is mysterious. There are still things to be learned about how blood circulates."

Regardless of whether Person 2's statement about blood circulation is true or not, the redefinition of "mysterious" is so broad that it omits significant contrast in the level of scientific understanding between earthquakes and blood circulation. Bain argues that if we hold the origin of the universe as equally mysterious against simple equations such as 3×4=12, it seems unimaginable what kind of concepts would be described as non-mysterious. Through redefinition, the word "mysterious" has lost any useful meaning, he says.

The redefinition is not always so obvious. At first glance it might appear reasonable to define brakes as "a method to quickly stop a vehicle"; however, this permits all vehicles to be described as having brakes. A sled could be driven into a sturdy barrier to stop it, but to therefore say the sled has brakes seems absurd.

This type of fallacy is often used in conjunction with one of the fallacies of definition.[citation needed] It is an informal fallacy.[2]

## Usage

The Scottish logician Alexander Bain discussed the fallacy of suppressed correlative, which he also called the fallacy of suppressed relative, in the 19th century. He provided many example relative pairs where the correlative terms find their meaning through contrast: rest-toil, knowledge-ignorance, silence-speech, and so on.[5] Bain classified this type of error as a fallacy of relativity, which in turn was one of many fallacies of confusion.[6]

J. Loewenberg rejected a certain definition of empirical method – one that seemed so broad as to encompass all possible methods – as committing the fallacy of suppressed correlative.[7][8] This error has been said to be found in the philosophy of some empiricists, including Edgar S. Brightman, sometimes in broadening the meaning of other terms relevant to these arguments, such as "perception" (when taken to include entirely cognitive processes in addition to ones usually classified as perceptual).[9]

Critics identify the fallacy in arguments for psychological egoism, which proposes that all actions conducted by individuals are motivated by their own self-interest. Outside of this idea it is believed that sometimes people do things selflessly, such as acts of charitable giving or self-sacrifice. Psychological egoism explains all scenarios entirely in terms of selfish motivations (e.g., that acting for one's own purposes is an act of self-interest); however, critics charge that in doing so they are redefining selfishness to the point where it encompasses all motivated actions and thus makes the term meaningless.[1]

## See also

* Correlative-based fallacies

## References

### Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Feinberg, Joel (2007). "Psychological Egoism". in Shafer-Landau, Russ. Ethical Theory: An Anthology. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-4051-3320-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=By9nCkAvS6EC&pg=PT211.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chadwick, Ruth F., ed (1998). Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. 2. Academic Press. p. 559. ISBN 978-0-12-227067-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=3QgZAQAAIAAJ.
3. ↑ Bain 1884, p. 54
4. ↑ Bain 1884, p. 56
5. ↑ Bain 1884, pp. 43–46
6. ↑ Bain 1870, pp. 391
7. ↑ Martin 1970, p. 3
8. ↑ Loewenberg, J. (May 23, 1940). "What is Empirical?". Journal of Philosophy XXXVII (11): 281–289. doi:10.2307/2017549.
9. ↑ Martin 1970, p. 38; Martin 1970, p. 69

### Works

* Bain, Alexander (1870). Logic: Part Second: Induction. Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer. p. 391. https://archive.org/details/logic00baingoog.
* Bain, Alexander (1884). "II. Errors of Suppressed Correlatives". Practical Essays. Longmans, Green, & Co. https://archive.org/stream/practicalessays02baingoog#page/n63/mode/2up. Originally published in Bain, Alexander (1868). "Mystery, and Other Violations of Relativity". in Morley, John. The Fortnightly Review. X. Chapman and Hall. https://books.google.com/books?id=DMcRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA383.
* Martin, James Alfred (1970). Empirical Philosophies of Religion. Ayer. ISBN 978-0-8369-1618-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=hHY6TbjySrUC.

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Fallacies (list)

Formal|

| In propositional logic|

* Affirming a disjunct
* Affirming the consequent
* Denying the antecedent
* Argument from fallacy

|

In quantificational logic|

* Existential
* Illicit conversion
* Proof by example
* Quantifier shift

Syllogistic fallacy|

* Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise
* Exclusive premises
* Existential
* Necessity
* Four terms
* Illicit major
* Illicit minor
* Negative conclusion from affirmative premises
* Undistributed middle

* Masked man
* Mathematical fallacy

Informal|

| Equivocation|

* Equivocation
* False equivalence
* False attribution
* Quoting out of context
* Loki's Wager
* No true Scotsman
* Reification

|

Question-begging fallacies|

* Circular reasoning / Begging the question
* Loaded language
* Leading question
* Compound question / Loaded question / Complex question
* No true Scotsman

Correlative-based fallacies|

* False dilemma
* Perfect solution
* Denying the correlative
* Suppressed correlative

Illicit transference|

* Composition
* Division
* Ecological

Secundum quid
(ignoring qualifications)|

* Accident
* Converse accident

Faulty generalization|

* Anecdotal evidence
* Sampling bias
* Cherry picking
* McNamara
* Base rate / Conjunction
* Double counting
* False analogy
* Slothful induction
* Overwhelming exception

Vagueness / Ambiguity|

* Accent
* Syntactic ambiguity
* Continuum
* Sorites paradox
* False precision
* Moving the goalposts
* Slippery slope
* Quoting out of context

Questionable cause|

* Animistic
* Furtive
* Correlation implies causation
* Cum hoc
* Post hoc
* Gambler's
* Inverse
* Regression
* Single cause
* Slippery slope
* Texas sharpshooter

Fallacies of relevance|

| Appeals to emotion|

* Fear
* Flattery
* Novelty
* Pity
* Ridicule
* Think of the children
* In-group favoritism
* Invented here / Not invented here
* Island mentality
* Loyalty
* Parade of horribles
* Spite
* Stirring symbols
* Wisdom of repugnance

|

Genetic fallacies|

| Ad hominem|

* Abusive
* Association
* Reductio ad Hitlerum
* Godwin's law
* Reductio ad Stalinum
* Circumstantial
* Appeal to motive
* Bulverism
* Poisoning the well
* Tone
* Tu quoque
* Whataboutism

|

* Authority
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* Ipse dixit
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* Nature
* Tradition / Novelty
* Chronological snobbery

Appeals to consequences|

* Argumentum ad baculum
* Wishful thinking

* Ad nauseam
* Argument to moderation
* Argumentum ad populum
* Appeal to the stone / Proof by assertion
* Ignoratio elenchi
* Argument from silence
* Invincible ignorance
* Moralistic / Naturalistic
* Motte-and-bailey fallacy
* Rationalization
* Red herring
* Appeal to worse problems
* Two wrongs make a right
* Special pleading
* Straw man
* Cliché
* I'm entitled to my opinion

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